Today I'm exhausted, because I was up working until after 11:00 last night - which means I didn't go to bed until well after midnight - and I got to sleep even later (I get up at 5:45). Working on a startup is hellish sometimes, but it sure is fun. We made some strategic UI changes yesterday, just on the cusp of our alpha release. Not the best time to do it, but it will make the user experience better, so we may as well do it now as later. I think it has really helped the flow.
The really interesting thing to me is that, while we didn't make TechStars, we are finishing up around the same time as some of those companies. Granted, our days were not filled with the great mentorship the TechStars teams got - in fact, ours were filled with working for "The Man"; our nights were filled with working on Georneys! It's purely coincidental and frankly I'm sure we would have been much further along had we had "all day" to work solely on Georneys. From what I understand, today is the day the TechStars companies get to pitch to investors. I'd love to be one of those companies, but I'd also love to be a fly on the wall. Just to learn a little bit more about "how to pitch". Is it just basically a demo? Do you have to prepare some god-awful long speech? You know, those subtle things that make a world of difference. Good luck to all the companies we've read about (and those we haven't, as well) this summer!
One thing is for certain; if you're married and have children, your spouse had better be either part of your startup or really, really supportive (read: pushover). There's absolutely no way I could have deprived David of so much time if we weren't doing this together.
Even though the last-minute details are driving me crazy, I wouldn't trade this ride for the world. I don't sleep, I don't eat right, and I have little time with my family the way I'd like to. I know at least some of that is for the short-term. As for the long term, with my luck, by the time I have "quality family time", my children will have no time for me! I'm hoping that's sooner, rather than later.
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